【雅思精读】背叛川普后，福克斯新闻该何去何从

　　【经济学人精读】背叛川普后，福克斯新闻该何去何从？*注：本文选自11月14日《经济学人》

　　Fallen star

　　陨落之星

　　As the Trump show is cancelled, what next for Fox News?

　　川普秀被取消了，福克斯新闻接下来何去何从？

　　The conservative cable network prepares for a spell in opposition

　　保守派的有线电视网络蓄势待发

　　1.WITH FLORIDA in the bag, at 11.20pm on election night the party at the White House was in full swing. Then Fox News, playing on large television screens around the building, puncturedthe mood, calling Arizona for the Democrats—the first time a network had projected a Republican state to flip. Despite a complaint from the White House to Rupert Murdoch, Fox’s boss and one-time friend of the president, the Fox decision desk did not budge.

　　成功拿下佛罗里达州之后，选举之夜的11点20分，白宫派对火热进行着。之后，大楼周围电视屏幕上的福克斯新闻破坏了这一热烈气氛，福克斯新闻称亚利桑那州支持民主党，这是电视媒体首次播报红州翻蓝。尽管白宫方面向福克斯老板，一度曾是特朗普朋友的默多克抗议此事，福克斯方面也没做任何让步。

　　2.Fox has been the most reliable mainstream-media ally of Donald Trump’s administration. Its hosts have given the president unchallenged airtime and amplified pro-Trump conspiracytheories from the internet. The relationship has been mutually beneficial：since 2015 the network’s ratings have risen by one-third (see chart), and in the latest financial year Fox News and Business generated 80% of Fox Corp’s gross operating profit. Now, with the credits ready to roll on the Trump show, the network must figure out how to deal with the exit—and wrath—of its star.

　　福克斯新闻一直是特朗普政府可靠的喉舌，其主持人曾给给了特朗普无限制的播报时间，还在互联网上支持特朗普的阴谋论。这样的合作其实是互惠的：自2015年以来，福克斯新闻的收视率上升了三分之一，在最近一个财报年，福克斯新闻和和商业板块为公司创造了80%的毛利润。现在，随着“川普秀”已经准备就绪，福克斯新闻得想出办法应对特朗普的落选和愤怒。

　　3.Fox has influence like no other news outlet. About 60% of Republicans watch it weekly, double the share of any other network. When the Pew Research Centre asked in September whether mail-in ballot fraud was a “major problem”, 61% of Republicans who got their TV news from Fox agreed, compared with 23% of Republicans who got their news elsewhere. Mr Trump, a Fox addict, hired its producers into the White House and sent staff in the other direction.

　　福克斯是美国影响力最大的新闻媒体。约60%的共和党人每周都会收看福克斯新闻，是其他电视网络收视率的两倍。九月，皮尤研究中心调查邮寄选票欺诈是否是一个“重大问题，”从福克斯新闻获知消息的共和党人中，61%表示同意，而从其他渠道获知消息的共和党人中，这一比例仅为23%。特朗普是个福克斯迷，他把福克斯制片人请到白宫，将其工作人员安排到其他政府机构。

　　4. But the lost election has broken the relationship. Prime-time hosts have largely stuck to the White House’s script, Sean Hannity declaring that “it will be impossible to ever know the true, fair, accurate election results.” But Fox’s news anchors have got gutsier. On November 9th Neil Cavuto abruptly cut away from footage in which the White House press secretary was claiming fraud. After the election was called, Fox’s website’s headline read: “Americans take to streets in celebration after Biden projected to win White House”.

　　但是，特朗普竞选失败破坏了福克斯新闻和他之间的紧密联系。黄金时段的主持人多按照白宫的脚本行事，肖恩•汉尼称，人们“永远都不可能知道真实、公平、准确的选举结果。”但是福克斯的新闻支持人胆识过人。11月9日，尼尔·卡武托突然切断了白宫新闻秘书声称存在选举欺诈的发布会。大选结束后，福克斯网站的标题是:“拜登将入主白宫，美国人走上街头庆祝”。

　　5. Other Murdoch-owned outlets, including the New York Post and Wall Street Journal, have taken a similar line. Mr Murdoch’s friendship with Mr Trump, like most of his alliances, appearspragmatic. In 2015, ahead of the Republican primaries, he tweeted: “When is Donald Trump going to stop embarrassing his friends, let alone the whole country?” When his British newspapers switched their support from the Conservatives to Labour in 1997, he described it as “like two porcupines making love: very slowly and very carefully”.

　　默多克旗下的媒体包括《纽约邮报》和《华尔街日报》等也采取类似立场。和特朗普和他的很多盟友一样，默多克与特朗普的友谊也很务实。2015年，在共和党初选之前，他在推特上写道：“唐纳德·特朗普什么时候才能不让他的朋友难堪，更别提让让整个国家难堪？”1997年，他的英国报纸抛弃保守党，转而支持工党时，默多克称“这是两只豪猪在互相暧昧，他们很慢，小心翼翼。”

　　6. Fox is already having a prickly time. Outside one Arizona vote-counting centre, Trump fans chanted, “Fox News sucks!”. Despite reporting strong earnings on November 3rd, Fox Corp’s share price dipped. “There appears to be something below the surface that is torpedoing the stock,” wrote Michael Nathanson, a media analyst. “That something might be the potential launch of a new Trump News Network.”

　　福克斯新闻处境艰难。在亚利桑那州的一个计票中心外，川普的粉丝们高呼:“福克斯新闻烂透了!”尽管福克斯公司11月3日公布了其高收益率，其股价还是下跌了。媒体分析师迈克尔•内桑森写道:“暗涌之中，好像有什么东西在破坏福克斯股价。或许，一个新的特朗普新闻网络正在启动。”

　　7. Rival conservative channels are gleeful. “Fox News viewers have been writing us and expressing frustration with the fundamental shift…to a more liberal slant,” says Charles Herring, head of One America News, whose website has a story entitled: “Trump Won, Fox News Admitted Its Leftist Agenda”. “We’ve arrived at Waterloo, and the battle is about ready to take place,” declares Chris Ruddy, head of Newsmax. Mr Ruddy says revenues from advertising—for hearing aids, testosterone pills, hats that prevent hair-loss, and so on—have doubled in the past six months.

　　与福克斯新闻竞争的保守派媒体对此喜闻乐见。美国第一新闻负责人查尔斯·赫林称，“福克斯新闻的观众一直给我们写信，说他们对福克斯这一自由主义的根本性转变很失望。”美国第一新闻网站一篇题为《特朗普赢了，福克斯新闻暴露了其左倾倾向》。Newsmax负责人克里斯·鲁迪称，“我们已经败了，战争马上打响。”鲁迪称助听器，雄性激素药，防脱帽等的广告收入在过去六个月已经翻了一番。

　　8. Yet Fox looks buoyant. Even if Mr Trump became the star of another network, the damage would be to advertising, which makes up only about 30% of Fox News’s revenue. The rest comes from the fees cable companies pay to carry it, and 90% of those deals are locked down for at least two years.

　　然而，福克斯看起来很乐观。即使特朗普入驻另一家新闻媒体，真正的损害来自广告，广告收入占福克斯新闻收入的30%左右。其他收入来自有线电视公司支付的运营费用，其中90%的交易至少要持续两年。

　　9. The Trump presidency has been a gift to all news media. “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS,” Leslie Moonves, its then-boss, remarked in 2016. But if anything it has been better for the liberal rebels. MSNBC has seen its ratings almost treble since 2015. The New York Times, leader of the resistance in print, has seen subscriptions soar. Fox’s ratings under Mr Trump have been sky high, but its share of the total was greater in the Obama years.

　　特朗普当选总统对所有媒体来说都是一件好事。该公司当时的老板莱斯利·穆恩维斯2016年说“这对美国或许并不是一件好事，但是对哥伦比亚广播绝对是好事。”如果说有什么不同的话，那就是这对自由派也益处颇多。MSNBC的收视率自2015年以来翻了两番。印刷业的领头羊《纽约时报》订阅量也在飙升。在特朗普执政期间，福克斯的收视率一直居高不下，在奥巴马执政期间，福克斯的总收视率中所占的份额甚至更大。